Choosing the Best Social Platforms for Your Business

Posted on 12/1/2014

As an industry leader, you don’t just need a presence on social media – you need a targeted strategy that continues to enhance your reputation. With this in place, social media is a great way to stay relevant with your audience and keep you at top of mind.

Each social media platform allows you to share helpful information, form a more genuine relationship with customers, and demonstrate that you’re an active, industry-leading company.

But with new platforms coming to the stage each year, it can be tough to feel confident about choosing the right outlets for building an audience and driving engagement.

Knowing how to use each social outlet for your business will help you:

Make your time worthwhile

Connect with relevant people

Feel comfortable managing campaigns

Build your audience

From Facebook to Pinterest, there are tons of ways you can share resources and personality with your customers. Finding the right tools for your company and knowing what content you have available to share is the first step.

To choose the best social profiles and continue to develop captivating content, here is a compilation of the most popular platforms, industries, and post suggestions to help you build that customer relationship.

Facebook:

Remains most popular social media platform across all ages and internationally – it’s a must-have!

Focus on building a community and sharing resources

Highest ROI for social advertising

Best Industries:

Food/dining

Entertainment

Fashion/style

Beauty/health

Service industry

Religious groups

Parenting information

Non-profits

Content Strategy:

People are looking for a more personal connection on Facebook

People like and share photos most often

Post pictures, contests, articles, and coupons

Promote local check-ins or visits that will show up on users’ profiles

Link to blog content, press releases, and case studies

Opportunity to give something in return for engaging on Facebook (e.g., coupon code)

Keep posts 80% resources and content and 20% sales

Promote key posts through Facebook Ads

Best time to post: Early mornings and after work

How often to post: 1-5 times per week

Facebook Post Idea:

Post a picture of your employees at a company party, in the warehouse, or on the production floor. Add a business-specific photo caption or customer service message. This will help put a face to the name and form a more genuine relationship with your followers.

Twitter:

Where people go for breaking news

Posts must be shorter than 140 characters

Best for customer service

Challenge is staying noticed in the feed and posting frequently enough to be seen

Might be more challenging for small businesses and non-profits

Best Audiences:

Business/industry

Brands/companies

Technology

News

Content Strategies:

Curate content from other industry professionals

Share tips and advice in your field

Share photos to stand out

Share time-sensitive data

Respond to your followers using their Twitter handle (e.g., @websolutionsCT)

Use hashtags (#) to join conversations and find followers

Best times to post: Lunchtime and between 5-7pm

How often to post: 1-8 times per day

Twitter Post Idea:

Promote an upcoming trade show with the right hashtags and post a secret offer to only your followers. It will drum up excitement for the trade show and make sure people come by your booth.

LinkedIn

Best for professional businesses and networking

Good for hiring and HR

Establishes thought leadership and prestige in your field

You can join as a company or as an individual

You can connect with professional groups and networks

Best Industries:

Professionals

Accountants

Lawyers

Designers

Content Strategies:

Share business strategies and related articles

Encourage your employees to join your company network

Only form genuine, professional relationships

Ask employees to share business content

Endorse and recommend people you’ve worked with

Comment on news and articles in your industry

Best times to post: After dinner when people are not at work

How often to post: 1-5 times per week

LinkedIn Post Idea:

Post a link to your recent case study with an introductory paragraph about why it’s impactful for your industry. Share the post on your page, company page, and relevant groups you’re a part of. Your colleagues and clients will recognize you as an expert in the field.

Google+:

Similar to Facebook or LinkedIn depending on industry

Google+ is tied to Google (and to your Google Local page) so consider it good for SEO

Best Industries:

Local businesses

Anyone who values search ranking

Business/industry

Technology

Content Strategy:

Share photos, company news, and industry articles

Curate content from other industry professionals and +1 their content

Share tips and advice in your field

Share photos of your business or product lines

Add other people to your circles and interact

Best times to post: Around lunchtime and 5:00 pm

How often to post: 1-5 times per week

Google+ Post Idea:

Share a link to your recent blog post with an insightful brief and relevant photo. People will click to read your article and +1 (recommend) it to their friends, followers, and Google!

Pinterest:

Picture based link and resource sharing

Predominantly women (92%)

Users “Pin” photos that they like to various organization/project boards (i.e. Recipes)

Best Industries:

Fashion and beauty

Home improvement

Health and fitness

Restaurants

Retail and eCommerce

Content Strategy:

Write powerful blog posts or how-to’s and tie to an infographic or relevant image

Pinterest Post Idea:

Launch your new product line via Pinterest with links to each of your product pages. People will repin and click the photos – growing your audience and bringing website visitors.

Your company doesn’t need to have a presence on every social media outlet in order to be seen and heard. Pick one or two platforms that speak to your business and the content that you’re already creating (or can easily start creating). Build your audience by sharing helpful resources and forming a genuine relationship.